Shloka 37
Go-dāna-phala-nirdeśa
Merit and Destinations from the Gift of Cows
ब्रह्मचर्य दहेद् राजन् सर्वपापान्युपासितम् । ब्राह्मणेन विशेषेण ब्राह्मणो हाग्निरुच्यते
brahmacaryaṁ dahed rājan sarvapāpāny upāsitam | brāhmaṇena viśeṣeṇa brāhmaṇo hy agnir ucyate ||
Bhīṣma said: “O King, the disciplined practice of brahmacarya burns away all accumulated sins. Most especially in the case of a brāhmaṇa: for a brāhmaṇa who lives as a brahmacārin is said to be of the very nature of fire.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Brahmacarya—understood as disciplined restraint and dedicated sacred conduct—has a purifying power likened to fire: it can consume accumulated sin. The verse highlights this as especially potent for a brāhmaṇa, whose ideal identity is tied to purity, tapas, and Vedic discipline.
In the Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhīṣma continues advising King Yudhiṣṭhira. Here he emphasizes the ethical and spiritual efficacy of brahmacarya, using the metaphor that the brahmacārin brāhmaṇa is ‘fire-like’—a purifier who burns away impurity.